The investigation into the possible misappropriation of EU funds is putting Greece’s conservative government under pressure.
ATHENS — European prosecutors are looking into how Greece used EU funds to construct migrant camps, said two Greek officials familiar with the inquiry.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office is focusing its investigation on the construction of two migrant reception and accommodation centers between 2020 and 2021, during the Covid pandemic period.
According to the officials, who spoke to POLITICO on condition of anonymity, the contracts in question were awarded to private companies without public tender and cost an estimated 15 times more than comparable projects, coming in at a total of €11.3 million.
The Kathimerini newspaper, which broke the story, reported that the camps under scrutiny are one in Malakasa, a village north of Athens, and one in Sintiki, located in the northern Serres region.
Greece’s Aegean islands were the main point of arrival for migrants from the Middle East in 2015, at the peak of Europe’s crisis. The camps in Greece were constructed by the International Organization for Migration until 2019. The Greek government then took on the oversight of such projects, with the contracts now being probed among the first that were undertaken.
The EPPO “does not comment on ongoing investigations,” a spokesperson said when reached for a response. “This is in order not to endanger the possible ongoing procedures and their outcome. Whenever we can say something about any of our investigations, we will do so proactively.”
Causes for concern
Opposition parties in parliament raised the issue of the two directly awarded contracts back in 2020. At the time, the center-right New Democracy government cited increased migrant flows and pressure to complete and deliver the camps quickly as the reason behind the decision.
But official figures by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees show that migrant arrivals to Greece dropped dramatically in 2020 to some 15,696 individuals, down from 74,649 the year before.
“The project was audited back then both by the European Commission and Greece’s audit office and received a positive report,” said a senior official from the Ministry of Migration and Asylum’s administration in 2020.
In addition to the exorbitant cost, the process had also drawn the opposition’s attention because a New Democracy official had been appointed director of the ministry’s Technical Service, which was in charge of both constructions.
Then-Minister of Migration Notis Mitarachi defended the appointment when the issue was raised in parliament in 2020, arguing that the technical service then operated through NGOs, which managed 82 percent of EU migration funds.
The first contract now under EPPO investigation involves the expansion of an existing camp in Malakasa, built in order to accommodate 1,500 migrants transferred from the islands. The contract was awarded in April 2020 to a company based in Athens, without prior tender. While the initial deal for the structure’s basic maintenance was worth €4.3 million, the project was eventually delivered after at least five extensions and a supplementary contract worth €1.7 million.
The EPPO is also probing a contract for the center in northern Greece, which was awarded in July 2020 to a technical company based in Kavala, with an initial cost of €3.6 million. Similarly, that project underwent at least three extensions until its completion, costing an extra €1.7 million.
The construction of the two camps is also mentioned in an internal document from an international organization in charge of migration that is based in Greece, which was cited by Kathimerini. The document notes that cost of both centers was exorbitant compared to any similar construction projects funded by the Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs in Greece.
“The EU has financed very similar actions that were completed in the same timeframe (or even shorter) for an amount that was 15 times lower than the one paid by the MoMA [Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum],” the document reads.
According to the organization’s calculations, for other facilities with similar characteristics, the same government had spent just €270 per beneficiary compared to €23,900 in Malakasa.
Greece’s conservative New Democracy government is under growing pressure, as a number of its officials may allegedly be involved in EPPO investigations into the misappropriation of EU funds. Several ministers resigned last summer and also in April for their alleged involvement in a massive EU farm scandal.